With the balancer finally out I can split the cases and see what the crankshaft looks like and the condition of the cases.


The end of the crank shaft has been damaged someone in the past allowed the puller to come in contact with the end of the crank shaft this mushroomed the end and distorted the threads I used a thread file and cleaned up the threads so I could screw a nut on to protect the end of the crank when using the case splitter.

What I do is use the factory washer and nut that holds the recoil basket on and another flat washer as a spacer to protect the end of the crankshaft..

Red is the factory washer

Blue is just a plain flat washer

Green is the factory nut installed backwards.

Ok see how it builds out past the end of the crankshaft.

Now I add a 1/8" thick piece of flat steel (pink arrows) between the nut and the pusher bolt now their is NO stress on the end of the crankshaft, the force is transfers through the nut and washers to the shoulder machined on the end of the crankshaft, this shoulder was designed to be pushed against.

Follow me?


Now their is NO WAY to damage the crank when splitting the cases, this is all explained in the SERVICE MANUAL.

Ok now with the cases split the first thing I see is scaring on the crankshaft where someone in the past has removed a old crank bearing that was stuck on the crank, I have removed them before its a pain in the ass the scaring is no real damage it just tells some history.

Muck in the bottom end.

I will need to take the crank to my buddys press tomorrow to press out the crank from the other half of the crankcase.

Note the marks on the crank where "BFH" had beat the shit out of the crank with a hammer.

I can eye ball the gap between the rod and thrust washers and tell you its WRONG.

Their is .063 gap.

After looking at this crank and the other crank (more on that later) I remember now these are the two cranks PCP rebuilt and he had a problem with them I thought he took it to work and pressed it to close the gap, looks like it DIDNT WORK he should have listen to me and shipped them both back to PCP to be corrected, live and learn...

If he did correct the gap it didnt hold did it, now its .063 if he did close the gap and it moved or spread open again that would account for the crank being twisted so BAD, the .023 run out I found might have been enough to chew up the balancer gears and destroy the stator, flywheel, balancer water pump etc.

This Engine came with a rebuilt crank I checkd the gap between the rod and thrust washers and its .014 the service manual says the service limit is .030 going by memory I have found most to be around .015, this is a wiseco rod so I would need to verify with them what they set them to.

The clearnace is good but the crank has other problems....

Here shows other scars from a past life.



When you see grind marks like this it usually means the crank pin was welded to the crank lobe at one time then they ground out the weld and rebuilt the crank again.

More "hammer" marks

Rust and pitted shaft.

Someone hit it with a grinder, not a big deal really.

Here is the real problem and I am not sure if it can be saved, in the process of removing the old bearing they nicked the shaft where the crank seal rides, if you look at a crank seal it has two sealing lips the one where the blue arrow is, is just a dust seal the one where the red arrow is, is the seal that seals the crankcase, usualy as the crank ages you wear grooves into the crank when you replace the seal you install the new seal slightly deeper into the cases so the seal lips ride on a unworn part of the crank.

The grind marks run right across where the seal rides, you can push the seal in deeper (to the left) because its damaged their too, I am not sure how to save this other than to maybe weld it and try to turn it back down? The crank is pretty much worthless as it sets. I don't think something like JB weld would wear very long?

Ideas?

I cant understand why someone would install a new rod into a crank with a seal surface in this condition.

I did not check the run out I stopped looking when I seen the seal surface damage.

((((EDIT )))

Here is the auction for this crankshaft I see no mention of the seal surface being damaged do you? BUYER BEWARE of this www-45thparallel-net mutt

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... R40QQfviZ1

The Engine came with a Vforce reed cage the reads don't seal well at all and their is no tension on them perhaps they just need adjusted?

That is one UGLY Engine.

and the reason why someone would do it is because Lude wanted money and didn't care about ripping someone off.

even though we don't say it WE ALL KNEW BETTER, that's why he had to ebay it!!! a bunch of wasted, worn out parts put together and sold it, oh well buyer beware, live and learn gotta look out for #1, heard it a bunch of times.


I have turned down a crank and used a smaller seal with sucess, say if that's a 10mm shaft then turn it to a 9 or 8mm and get the right seal to fit it. But with the other issues with the crank i would probably toss that one

Looking at the reed cage gasket surface you can see someone over torqued some of the fasteners, some of the plastic is distorted some is not.

The red arrows show the distorted area the blue show the area that's still flat.

I don't think this is a problem but the owner needs to be aware so he can keep an eye on it in the future for leaks.

The guy that torqued the bolts on this cage needs to invest in a torque wrench and learn how to use it, its the lack of attention to details like this that cause air leaks and POOFKABOOM.

The crank seal area should be able to be saved by SS outer sleave. I remember seeing them at my local bearing-seal shop a few years back when I was repairing my 350 Ody trans.They are a very thin SS collar-sleave that takes over that damaged area and provides a new SS sealed surface for the seal lips to turn on. ...Baz

I have seen that before my tractors have wear rings for seals too . I don't know what the effect on these type seals would be by installing a wear ring or if you can even get one that would fit?

Here ya go; Speedi-sleeves.
http://www.skf.com/portal/skf/home/prod ... 95&lang=en

Another link:

http://www.daltonbearing.com/Suppliers/ ... TAodWi-XUA

Ok today I took the left crankcase and crankshaft over to my buddys that has the press to press the crank shaft out of the crankcase.


I really don't know what to say I am simply amazed each and every step of this CSI just gets worse, the Engine was assembled with only ONE case dowel pin not the TWO that's required, ALL the holes in the case are egg shape because the dowel was missing and could not stop the movement.

Whilst at my buddys shop I got hijacked to help him trouble shoot his RV generator so spent the rest of the day their then my mom showed up from Florida so I only had time to snap these pics of the cases I will post pics and maybe a video of the clutch side crank bearing that is JUNK WOBBLE WOBBLE.


Here is all the as found pics behind the crank seal, I have no idea how that much crap could enter an Engine in 20 hrs.

The cases moving damaged the dowel ? I never seen cases and a dowel in this condition before, were they junk before then the mutt just assembled as is ?

One arrow points to bad threads

Dowel hole all buggerd up no dowel pin to be found anyplace.

I stopped and looked around my shop for hidden cameras I thought perhaps I was part of some reality show and was being setup.